Wh-movement in Iraqi Arabic and Slave

Abstract

Both Iraqi Arabic and Slave show asymmetries in wh-movement that are different from the typical asymmetries that have been observed. In Iraqi Arabic, covert movement of argument wh-words appears to be more restricted than overt movement, and in Slave, covert movement of adjunct wh-words appears to be freer than overt movement. The analysis given claims that the covert/overt distinction with respect to wh-movement should be characterized as a distinction in pied-piping, as discussed in Watanabe (1992), though some important modifications of this approach are made. This paper also claims that partial wh-movement - movement of a wh-operator to an intermediate CP position - can occur without an overt scope marker, the scope of the partially moved wh-phrase determined by a null scope marker in the matrix CP. Wh-movement in Iraqi Arabic and Slave is shown to be quite similar, despite surface appearances to the contrary